Well, I'm back home again. I actually got back here on Saturday but since I wasn't working, I didn't get online or check any mail. I had a wonderful time on vacation and it gets harder and harder to come back here each time I leave for an extended vacation like that one.

I need to apologize to cuddles, mystrys and dragoneerl who I didn't get to visit with for various reasons. Mostly it was because my time got a little screwed up by new airport regulations which put my brother both behind and ahead of schedule flying in and out which in turn screwed my schedule up. dragoneerl, I actually missed you the first night and then the next day twice because I was trying to get to the airport in time on the way up and missed the Mt. Olive Exit on I-40 on the way back. Cuddles and Mystrys, I had meant to see you on the 28th but Brent was taking off for Daytona and I needed to make arrangements with him to stay at his house and also go up to Lenoir to see Chief WhiteHawk. The high and low of all that is I simply ran out of time.

To all of you whom I missed, next time I'll choose a central location and hopefully we can all get together there and visit.

ryl is interesting, intelligent and beautiful, all in all a very sexy combination. Her boyfriend should consider himself very, very lucky. Brent and I met her parents briefly which was an interesting expereince since we didn't know beforehand what she'd told them about us and what roles we'd have to play for them but it didn't last long so that was cool. Ryl gave me the towel I'd won from one of her contests and I gave her the bracelet she'd won from mine. She also gave me about 30 lbs of pecans which have elevated me to the status of god around the office today. That and the pepermint puffs from the Lexington Candy Factory. Ryl went with us out to dinner of sorts at Gary's BBQ. The second time that day I'd been to a BBQ. This blonde waitress who obviously thought she was all that and a bag of chips kept touching me and calling me honey and things like that which I actually kinda liked. But she was also giving us the evil eye for sitting in a family sized booth and just eating appetizers. Oh well, if she'd cleaned the dirty tables quicker, we wouldn't have had to sit there. Afterwards, I just didn't want to leave her company truth be told so we asked her to come back to Lexington with us and watch a movie which she graciously agreed to. The movie was OK. Driven with Sly Stalone and Burt Reynolds. Brent's girlfriend was there too. I'd just recently met her as well. Super nice girl though and just right for Brent I think. I finally took Ryl back home just after 10. We had a good talk on the way back. She's someone I definitely want to see again.

namaste21 I'd never met before either though we've had some good discussions online. We had a very pleasant time visiting after I took my brother to the airport. It was kinda tough since we'd never been face to face to talk about some of the things we'd discussed online. But at least we got past the small talk phase and into a little of the rest of it. Her kids are both cute but I know if we were in a different atmosphere, we could have been a little more open. She's also quite intelligent and also beautiful. I guess I just need to move back to NC again. The time I could spend was way too short since I needed to get back and see Dragonfly again as well as getting back to Brent's house that night.

dragonfly was lovely and captivating as always. The first visit of the trip wasn't very long as I was waiting to get over to the airport to pick up Joe. We just got to talk about things in general. Catching up kind of stuff. I did get to meet her friend alchemist though. Cool guy from what I saw for a few minutes. The second visit I got to spend a little more time. We actually got to talk about some spiritual things. We did arrive at five conclusions of major importance 1) we both think the other is the bees knees. 2) We both agree we need to spend more time together. 3) Women are too self conscious about the way their vaginas smell when there is a possibility of men going down on them. Men care a lot less than women would think. 4) 90% of all men will add 2 inches to thier penis size when a woman asks how big they are. This is pretty stupid given that the woman will find out the truth soon enough. 5) Size does matter but so does skill. Not that those things are spiritual in nature but we did agree on them. I also got to meet Dragonfly's friend tyrian and saw just why she puts so much stock in him. He's a very cool guy as well.

I got to spend an afternoon with my new sister Starhawk at her kid's house in Fuquay Varina. Her daughter, son-in-law and grandson are all great people and I thoroughly enjoyed my time there. Her son-in-law gave me some really nice gifts which he didn't have to since he'd just met me. But I think mostly it was in return for transition rituals I'd done for his two children who were stillborn. By webcam, he introduced me to his brother in Scottsdale AZ who is waiting for a kidney transplant but has also contracted a galbladder infection. Poor guy. I'll be doing a healing for him tonight I think. Starhawk gifted me a wonderful statue of an owl, carved out of ironwood. Beautiful thing.

I spent some good quality time with my brother just talking. We took a walk on the beach and we went out to lunch in Beaufort with my folks and went to see Ocean's 11 later. Good flick by the way. Not as good as the original but then nothing ever is. We had a great Christmas dinner with family and friends. Way too much food though. Joe and I got way more gifts than we really deserved. My big gift was Dad helping me buy my new tipi. But they also sent me $200 to help make the trip out. Plus Dad bought us each 100 shares of stock in a new banking venture and we got some nice clothes. The folks also gave me a new stone owl fetish. Really nice! Joe gave me his group's new CD which I have yet to listen to.

I got to spend an evening with Chief WhiteHawk and Buffalo Man and share a meal with them. They always act so honored when I come to visit when it's actually me that's honored. We exchanged some small gifts and had some really good discussions.

I spent a day and a half with Brent and his girlfriend Roxy who gave me some cool computer presents. I wish I'd been able to spend more time but he took off at 4 am on the 28th to go race go-carts in Daytona. He and his brother both race. And Brent builds and fixes the cars.

I came home on the 29th. I drove 800 miles in 12 hours so at least I know it can be done if I ever need to get there quickly. I just wouldn't want to always do that. The temp in NC when I left was 68. When I got home to Peoria that night the temp was 11. So instantly, a bit of depression set in. The cold coupled with missing my friends and family in NC just kind of put me in a blue mood. I've mostly snapped out of it though. Sunday Deb and I went down to the farm and we were just lazy for the 30th though yesterday. We slept late. We didn't get dressed until we needed to and we ate lots of food. In short we just enjoyed being together.

New Year's Eve we spent at Rob and Gwen's house. Lots of folks were over and we fried fish and made shrimp and steak kabobs. Tanya and I passed back and forth a bottle of cheap screw top wine and we all had a couple snorts of Knob Creek bourbon from my flask. At 10:30 we all jumped in our redneck trucks and headed out to my farm for fireworks. Shooting fireworks when the temp is only 9 degrees is sheer torture but the cold thin air made them sound so much louder so it was still pretty fun. We must all be getting old though because the party ended soon after midnight and everyone giving each other big sloppy kisses. Yesterday we just sorta hung out and loved on each other. We got home to Peoria about 7 pm and sat down to watch a little TV. I forgot to pay the cable bill before I left so we got disconnected and we have to wait till Friday to be reconnected. So just movies until then. After a few minutes of watching Back Beat, Deb was giving me that "Come Hither" look so we adjourned to the boudoir for a little fun but that is for another post. Needless to say I'm walking funny today.

So today, it's back to work. While I was gone the new computers got in so after this post, I'm hooking up my new G4 with both CD and DVD writes and a new 21" monitor. Whoo Hoo!!

Comments

That would be cool. i'll probably be around in the Spring at some point and again next Xmas. Maybe we can all get together someplace and do something fun. I've always got some ritual and ceremonial materials with me, so next time I'll remember to show them to you. I need to get back to work on my personal website so perhaps I'll scan some of these things and put them up for people to see.